This cache is on the public road right of way within the settlement of Vickeryville near the site of the former Grand Trunk Western depot. There are houses close by so please be discrete.
Vickeryville depot in the 1920s
Vickeryville was a booming village a century plus ago, with a population of 175, a post office, several business and industries. Vickeryville was founded and platted by John Vickery in 1856. The place was first called Vickery Corners. The post office, called West Bloomer, was opened in 1857, and was renamed Vickeryville in 1869. The office remained open until 1953. When the railroad came through, the town became two parts, the original section to the north, and the second around the railroad. The station stood just west of the road, beyond the second elevator, which still stands.
Vickeryville's first elevator, which burned and was replaced by the one still standing. Mr. Ralph's Father's wagons are parked at the elevator.
Vickeryville's second elevator, abandoned and hanging on by a thread.
In 1887-89, a railroad line originally known as the Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon, was constructed between Ashley and Muskegon. Rails reached Carson City in September of 1887, Greenville in November of 1887, Cedar Springs and Muskegon by the end of the year. Construction continued in 1888 for ballasting, sidings and depots. On August 1st, 1888, a lease of the TS&M to the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada was completed. A mail and express train and a mixed train (freight with passenger service) was operated daily between Owosso (over the Ann Arbor Railroad to Ashley) and Muskegon. The line was known as the Turkey Trail because it meandered like a turkey and also because it allegedly never made money.
In 1928, GTC was merged with other Michigan Grand Trunk subsidiaries into the Grand Trunk Western, itself a subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway. In 1930, GTW secured trackage rights between Grand Rapids and Muskegon over the Pennsylvania Railroad (former Grand Rapids and Indiana) Muskegon Branch. Service on the Turkey Trail was reduced to way freights and mixed trains. In 1946, with heavy service operating over the PRR, the portion of the line between Greenville and Muskegon was abandoned.
Mixed train service continued leaving Durand, to Greenville and back each day until the end of 1955. On January 1st, 1956, this was reduced to a single way freight turn daily. On January 11th, 1983, the last train left Greenville and the line was abandoned between Greenville and Carson City. The rails are still in place from Ashley to Carson City and were being occasionally operated from 1982 by the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay and since 2006, between Ashley and Middleton by the Great Lakes Central.
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